Dull Beat
Østmo Over Moon
Low attendance continued to plague the Birds as they were
crushed by a high-flying Bass-Reflex side, who were unaffected
by their midweek Cup obligations against Red Chaos as they got
one over Grilled.
Long out of the Cup, Grilled's main agenda was to correct their
collapse against the Penguins, and responded positively to the
Woofers' initial pressing tactics. Doncho Spaskov is a very good
defender, but he had no answer to Rotteveel's lightning pace
over ten yards. The Dutchman got just enough of an angle to pull
it back for Subri, who cut it past Lluís Mardones.
Grilled were looking good, but Bass-Reflex were silently sizing
up their chances, with Italian winger Sergio Moletto
disappointing in front of goal after getting a good look in.
Grilled committed more men forward in search of a second, and
Moletto got a second chance through a defence-splitting pass
from Carrido. This time, he got it right.
This changed nothing for the Birds, and they were taken apart
yet again by the same means. Talib was slow to return after
helping out on the left, and Moletto had a great time teasing
Lik-Tsun, who was not at his best chasing a quick winger on the
flanks. Finnish striker David Østmo snuck in and gave the
Woofers the lead with a clean finish.
Grilled were unable to adapt, and alternated between tentative
attacks and frantic defending. It wasn't that the visitors were
much better, but they certainly knew what they were doing. Zhang
Thien An fancied his chances after a cross landed right in front
of him, and his half-volley took a slight deflection off Árva,
wrongfooting the hapless Valdir.
By now, it was all in the Woofers' hands, and they made a couple of substitutions in the 65th minute with a mind to preserving their lead. Spaskov and Østmo were booked around that time for a couple of hard fouls, but the latter didn't much mind as he flicked in a fourth to confirm the three points.
